Cosmos

I've been excited for the past few weeks about the new Cosmos series which begins this evening at 8pm PDT.  I was surprised today when I was surfing the channels and came across NatGeo's reruns of the original Cosmos series hosted by Carl Sagan. It was breathtaking, and I hope the updated series will be so.  The previews of it indicate there will be a lot of animated stories and explanations, and I hope cutesy animation  doesn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the series.  Of course younger people won't have any problem with it, but I think of animation as cartoons, as that was what was animated in my younger years.  No matter, it will be great to see a serious program based on scientific knowledge as opposed to some of the pseudo scientific programs often shown.

Jeannie and I walked yesterday, just two miles because she had to take Autumn to her indoor soccer game.  But the 2 miles took just a smidgen over half an hour, which is an avg of 4 mph.  I kept up with Jeannie which makes me feel good, although she may have been allowing me to keep up with her!

I set my clocks up an hour last night and went to bed early, but I still feel like I've missed something and I'm tired.  I don't know why we have to go through this period of time warp twice a year, especially when there are differences of opinon on whether it saves energy or not, or whether it is good for us.

 

I'm Good to Go!

My doctor checked the hernia and said it didn't require surgery at this time unless I wanted it, and agreed that I could use an Ace Bandage (she even gave me two of them).  The big problem with the bandage is that it slips out of place and ends up tight around my waist, so I will look for an alternative.

She agreed that I could do most any kind of exercise, but cautioned me as to the amount of weight I lift, for example lifting two heavy suitcases.  I haven't been doing that kind of lifting and will be very careful about how I work out.  I am filled with joy!!!

I have a low red blood count which has been a lingering problem, and I take two iron tabs a day even so.  We went over some food choices, although discussing food nearly makes me ill - I am sick of eating, and by Noon I usually feel like I don't want another bite until the next day.

I also have a borderline thyroid problem, but I don't want to take medication for it so she said we will retest by the end of summer.  She knows how I feel about tests and specialists - they reduce the quality of my life!  My cholesterol is perfect!

It turns out my doctor is a backpacker herself, so I think she understands my eagerness to get out on the trail as well as to be physically prepared for it.

So I am good to go!  I'm signed up for a class in backpacking at REI on the 12th - it will likely be more for beginners but I can learn a lot since I haven't carried a pack for about 15 years.  I hope I can be smart about it as well as prepared to hit the trail, hopefully in late April or May.  There will still be snow in many areas, but I'll find an area without it!

Speaking of snow, I was driving home (east) on Fwy 50 and the beautiful snow topped Sierras came into view.  What a gorgeous sight, but then any mountain is pretty gorgeous to me.

It's a good day

It's good because I'm feeling good!  That may change tomorrow depending on what my doctor tells me.

I decided to get another pair of Fila's at Costco today while they still have some.  This time I got the pink shoelaces & trim.  I felt like $20 shoes (even at Costco's price) won't last me forever so I may as well have a spare on hand.  I took a picture of both pairs, and you can see I took one of the pink insoles from my "old" pair and tried it in the new.  The insoles really make a difference.

Knowing how much yard work I need to do, and not having any gardening gloves, I was an easy sell for Costco's gloves - the kicker is that they come in a pkg. of six, but for the low price of $6.99.  I won't live long enough to wear out 6 prs of gardening gloves, especially since I dislike gardening in California.

I took a few photos of the weeds I'm dealing with, and this is after I paid a hefty price to have some new sheeting laid down last year and new gravel spread.  The gravel was spread so thin that the sheeting shows through in many spots.  I feel so stupid for thinking I would get decent work done.  If I ever hire someone again they will have to have at least 5 recommendations I can verify.  That's a big reason why I'm not handing money over to a roofer!  They see an old lady and figure it's as good as a license to steal.

I hit the jackpot on the gym's scale last night - I have now gained back all the weight I lost being ill and in the hospital.  I am up to 118.6!  Now for the next 15 or 20.  I'm beginning to see a big difference in how I look and feel.

The mailman delivered a box to me this afternoon, and I think it is the device that converts UHF to DVD.  I'm hoping I don't have to worry about doing it myself - with all the younger minds in the family who can read directions, I shouldn't have to.

I was fasting this morning so got myself ready to leave for the lab in very short order.  The waiting room was crowded - usually I go in the middle of the day and get in within 5 or 10 min.  But once they take you back it goes quickly - 3 vials of blood doesn't take long!

I watched Keira today as Joe is attending a Respiratory Conference at Lake Tahoe (what a location!) until Friday, so he dropped her off and Sarah just picked her up.  I asked him if he was taking his snowboard, and he said "I wish".

Here is a pic I snapped of Keira.  The two small notebooks with doggie pictures on the cover are sitting on the table, and note that the rings are on the right side.  I kept flipping the books over because in my mind the front cover has the rings on the left.  She kept flipping them back and then I realized she is a "leftie"!  When I showed her the picture she immediately noticed that she put on mis-matched socks this morning.  Three year olds are so much fun.

I tried to take the picture quickly before she noticed, and it isn't the best quality.  Click to enlarge.  The old area rug in the background isn't supposed to be there, but one day when the rain was blowing every which way I found a lot of water under the swamp cooler vent.  I left the rugs there ever since because I know we will have more rain.

I made an appointment to see my doctor on Friday about the hernia - man, is it ever enlarging fast.  I still don't think they often do surgery on umbilical hernias so I'm hoping I can avoid it.  Under no circumstances do I want to be anything other than an out-patient.  I hate hospitals and can't eat while I'm there, which led to my exaggerated weight loss a few weeks ago.  On my way to the gym this evening I'm planning to stop at a Rite Aid and get a wide ace bandage; if it holds it in and I am comfortable, then I've solved my problem!  This thing doesn't hurt by the way.

It has been overcast all day, but we might have sun for the next 3 days.  Even with a shower now and then I want to see the sun.  But then we go back to rain.  I don't know why the "experts" are saying that all this rain and snow doesn't help with the drought conditions, but maybe it prevents an even worse drought.  Flowering trees are in bloom everywhere and weeds are growing like crazy.

Thanks to Jo for the comment mentioning Spectricide.  I think I will get some tomorrow and try it out.  Last year I used Roundup, and then a homemade mixture of vinegar & salt, and I think the weeds are worse than ever.  That's going to be a lot of backbreaking work, and the park police start their lot inspections around April 1st.  It seems like they just finished - I didn't do half the stuff on their list!

Haven't gotten much done today except I did watch the library DVD's on Yellowstone and the Tetons.  Of the two parks there is something about the Tetons that draws me in.  Yellowstone has plenty of beauty but I'm not crazy about the geothermal attractions.  I've seen the ones at Lassen a couple of times and while they are interesting I don't really care for them.

My doctor put in the order for blood tests, but I will have to  be fasting for them.  I should try for it tomorrow and then get an appointment to see her on Friday if one is available.  The hernia is getting bigger.  I tried to find out online if I could just wrap an ace bandage around my middle to hold it in when I'm active, but can't really find a definitive answer.  I don't think they do surgery for umbilical hernias unless there is a lot of pain involved.  I have some discomfort, but not pain.  After all I've been through, why does this have to happen to me!  It isn't going to keep me from doing what I want to do.

I'm watching one of my granddaughters tomorrow afternoon for about 3 hrs.  I bought some new coloring books, a cute notebook for each kid, some small clipboards (they all love clipboards!), but I have hidden the markers & Sharpies.  I don't buy the washable kind and no matter how careful they try to be the ink always gets on something.

I notice that the NatGeo channel will be carrying the new and updated re-make of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series.  I'm looking forward to that as I remember watching Sagan when he presented the original series.  I wish they had done it on public tv though, because any of the other channels devote almost as much time to commercials as they do to their programming.

It must be a bit warmer today because I don't have to run my little heater whenever I sit down, but it doesn't feel all that much warmer outside.  Looks like we will have rain tomorrow again, and then maybe a couple of days with sunshine before the rains fall on the weekend.  I don't like wishing even a few days of my remaining life away, but I think I will enjoy and welcome April!  


 

Monday again!

I should offer a correction on my post about Ara's new job.  I called it a Camp, but the name of the place is actually Camphill.  It is a school for autistic, physically, and developmentally disadvantaged people.  The school grounds cover many acres and has 8 residences, one of which will be where Ara will work.  The school has a cafe on the grounds, and students can work there gaining skills, knowledge, and responsibilities for when they graduate.  Many of the graduates of the school stay on and live in one of the residences.  (Ara, if you read this and want to correct or clarify anything, please do so.)  There is so much more I don't know enough about to delve into, but anyone interested in learning more can click on this link to the school's website:
http://www.camphillspecialschool.org/who_we_are/

Yesterday was a day of shopping with Jeannie and Arianna (Donald took Autumn to a skating party.)  I was worn out after a few hours, but when we finally got to the gym in the evening I revived pretty quickly.  The main problem with being away from home for so long is that I miss meals and snacks - calories!  The scale at the gym registered 116# which made me want to cry.  That's only an 11# gain from when I left the hospital, and I am so tired of always having to think about eating, to say nothing about the fact that I am usually uncomfortably full for a number of hours in the day.

Enough complaining for now - I feel physically and mentally great, which is largely due to the exercise.

I'm looking forward to my class at REI in a little over a week.  It is probably more for beginner backpackers, but I've been away from it for so long I figure there are lots of new things I can learn, to say nothing of updated gear!

I don't know where to start today - guess I'll do laundry.  I wonder when I'll ever get back to sorting out my camping and traveling gear.  At least the maps are organized. 

Easy Saturday

I hope I'm back on track with my sleeping patterns now - I woke up at 8 am which is perfect for me.  Now I won't have to nap today.

I mentioned that my granddaughter found her dream job, and I suppose I should elaborate a little on it.  In the first year after her graduation from college she worked with autistic adults, and found that she loved it and was very good at it.  Since moving to Philadelphia last summer she has had trouble finding something she really loved at a salary she could live on.

She will be working at a camp for autistic adults as a "housemother" with three (I think) adults in her charge.  She will live there and be on call 24/7 for 3 days a week, and then off 4 days, and is hoping she will have some time to devote to artistic endeavors that she might also get income from.  

This job will also allow her to attend seminars and add to her resume, and she is doing something she really loves.  You can't beat that!

Speaking of grandchildren, I have to laugh when the little ones are over to visit.  When one of them uses the bathroom I can hear them singing the ABC song - "a-b-c-d-e-f-g", etc.  I guess it's a way to make sure they spend enough time washing their hands which is pretty clever.  The two older ones who are in school no longer sing aloud, but the 3 younger ones sing heartily!

I ended up buying an 8-pc stackable storage set (plastic bins) for my maps and such.  They are much bigger than shoe boxes and I've already sorted and put my maps in 3 different boxes, got out my labeler, and have the labels printed and applied.  Now to tackle the rest of the room, which I'm not looking forward to as it's a small room to begin with and contains camping gear that takes up a lot of space.  I also have a large desk and comfy executive office chair in there.  I still would like to have another bookshelf, but I'm not going to pay a whole lot for a cheap one - I'd like to find a cheap one for a good cheap price!

I got my rent bill yesterday and nearly fell over!  The rent has gone up a few dollars but the utilities are way more than I've paid for a long time.  I think when I came home from the hospital I decided to run the heating more hours, and indeed I needed to.  Now I'm trying to just get along with my small Lazko heater which I move around to wherever I am in the house.  I also dress in layers and add and subtract according to how warm or cold I am.

The rain yesterday evening was awful.  When I was getting ready to go to bed I noticed a whole lot of water under the swamp cooler.  I know the unit on the roof is covered tightly, but I guess with the wind and rain it just got through somehow.  We had a tornado warning yesterday evening, about 6:30 pm.  It kind of rattled me because I don't associate tornados with this part of the country, and I'm not going anywhere for shelter but will take my chances here in my home.  The announcement did say that residents of mobile homes should seek shelter elsewhere.  I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't had the TV on, so I guess there is a good reason to have TV service.

Now the sun is out and the streets are dry, but there is rain predicted for later on as well as for the next week.  Even so, the forecasters are saying this won't affect the drought all that much.  I don't understand why it wouldn't affect it - the local channel says that Folsom Lake rose by a foot of water, and now we will have the snowmelt in the spring and early summer.  I'm glad I don't live in Southern CA where the surrounding hills and mountains were burned out, making landslides likely.  That would be just too cruel to need rain that would end up causing a possible loss of your home.

It's 10:30am and I guess I shouldn't sit around in pj's and bathrobe all day, so I'll just wish y'all a good weekend wherever you are.